Polymorphic application architecture

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for generating mobile applications are described. A user interface is provided to enable selecting one or more declaratives to generate a mobile application, wherein the one or more declaratives are used to visually configure characteristics of the mobile application. Data corresponding to selection of one or more declaratives for the mobile application is received. Data corresponding to selection of a layout to associate the one or more selected declaratives with the mobile application is received. Metadata associated with the one or more selected declaratives and metadata associated with the selected layout is determined. A mobile application may be generated at least based on the determined metadata associated with the one or more selected declaratives and with the selected layout.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to commonly assigned U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 16/861,410, titled “PALETTE MANAGEMENT USER INTERFACE”, byPhillip Norman Calvin, filed Apr. 29, 2020, which is hereby incorporatedby reference in its entirety and for all purposes.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialwhich is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to data processing and morespecifically relates to application development.

BACKGROUND

The subject matter discussed in the background section should not beassumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in thebackground section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the backgroundsection or associated with the subject matter of the background sectionshould not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the priorart.

Application development may include developing mobile applications andweb applications. Each application may be uniquely developed andcustomized for a particular business. Users of an application may expecta smooth experience as when the application is developed by a team ofexperience developers. This may be possible when the application isassociated with a business with a big budget. However, it may bechallenging for small and medium sized businesses with smaller budgetthat cannot afford such customization. One possible solution for smalland medium sized businesses is to use applications developed based ontemplates. Using the templates to develop applications may be lessexpensive but the applications may be less flexible in terms of quality,usability, performance and utility. Using the templates to developapplications may also cause an issue with distribution to an app storewhen the application is a mobile app. This is because the app store(e.g., App Store maintained by Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif.) may viewthese applications as clones of one another, and therefore may not allowmore than one app to be included in the app store.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The included drawings are for illustrative purposes and serve only toprovide examples of possible structures and process operations for thedisclosed techniques. These drawings in no way limit any changes in formand detail that may be made to implementations by one skilled in the artwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.

FIG. 1 shows a diagram of an example computing system that may be usedwith some implementations.

FIG. 2 shows a diagram of an example network environment that may beused with some implementations.

FIG. 3 shows an example development life cycle that may be used togenerate mobile applications, in accordance with some implementations.

FIG. 4A shows an example application builder, in accordance with someimplementations.

FIG. 4B is an example screen shot of a home page of a mobile appassociated with a declarative user interface, in accordance with someimplementations.

FIG. 5A shows an example diagram of metadata categories associated witha metadata engine, in accordance with some implementations.

FIG. 5B shows an example relationship of colors used in a color schemefor a shopping app, in accordance with some implementations.

FIG. 6A shows an example data structure associated with a shopping app,in accordance with some implementations.

FIGS. 6B, 6C, 6D, 6E, 6F, 6G show example screen shots that includeconfigurable options for a shopping app, in accordance with someimplementations.

FIG. 7 is an example flow diagram of a process that may be used togenerate a shopping app using a declarative user interface, inaccordance with some implementations.

FIG. 8A shows a system diagram illustrating architectural components ofan applicable environment, in accordance with some implementations.

FIG. 8B shows a system diagram further illustrating architecturalcomponents of an applicable environment, in accordance with someimplementations.

FIG. 9 shows a system diagram illustrating the architecture of amulti-tenant database environment, in accordance with someimplementations.

FIG. 10 shows a system diagram further illustrating the architecture ofa multi-tenant database environment, in accordance with someimplementations.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Examples of systems and methods for generating mobile applications usingan architecture that includes a declarative user interface. Thedeclarative user interface may have multiple options for selection, eachof the options may be associated with a feature or characteristic of amobile application. Metadata may be generated when a declarative isselected. The metadata associated with multiple selected declarativesmay be used to generate the mobile application.

Examples of systems and methods associated with generating a mobileapplication using a declarative user interface will be described withreference to some implementations. These examples are being providedsolely to add context and aid in the understanding of the presentdisclosure. It will thus be apparent to one skilled in the art that thetechniques described herein may be practiced without some or all ofthese specific details. In other instances, well known processoperations have not been described in detail in order to avoidunnecessarily obscuring the present disclosure. Other applications arepossible, such that the following examples should not be taken asdefinitive or limiting either in scope or setting.

In the following detailed description, references are made to theaccompanying drawings, which form a part of the description and in whichare shown, by way of illustration, some implementations. Although theseimplementations are described in sufficient detail to enable one skilledin the art to practice the disclosure, it is understood that theseexamples are not limiting, such that other implementations may be usedand changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe disclosure.

As used herein, the term “multi-tenant database system” refers to thosesystems in which various elements of hardware and software of thedatabase system may be shared by one or more customers. For example, agiven application server may simultaneously process requests for a greatnumber of customers, and a given database table may store rows for apotentially much greater number of customers.

The described subject matter may be implemented in the context of anycomputer-implemented system, such as a software-based system, a databasesystem, a multi-tenant environment, or the like. Moreover, the describedsubject matter may be implemented in connection with two or moreseparate and distinct computer-implemented systems that cooperate andcommunicate with one another. One or more examples may be implemented innumerous ways, including as a process, an apparatus, a system, a device,a method, a computer readable medium such as a computer readable storagemedium containing computer readable instructions or computer programcode, or as a computer program product comprising a computer usablemedium having a computer readable program code embodied therein.

The disclosed implementations may include a computer-implemented methodto generate a mobile application and may comprise providing a userinterface to enable selecting one or more declaratives to generate amobile application, wherein the one or more declaratives are used tovisually configure characteristics of the mobile application; receivingdata corresponding to selection of one or more declaratives for themobile application; receiving data corresponding to selection of alayout to associate the one or more selected declaratives with themobile application; determining metadata associated with the one or moreselected declaratives and metadata associated with the selected layout;and causing to generate the mobile application at least based on thedetermined metadata associated with the one or more selecteddeclaratives and with the selected layout.

The disclosed implementations may include a system for generating anapplication using declaratives and may include one or more processors,and a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a plurality ofinstructions, which when executed, cause the one or more processors of aserver computing system to provide a user interface to enable selectingone or more declaratives to generate a mobile application, wherein theone or more declaratives are used to visually configure characteristicsof the mobile application; receive data corresponding to selection ofone or more declaratives for the mobile application; receive datacorresponding to selection of a layout to associate the one or moreselected declaratives with the mobile application; determine metadataassociated with the one or more selected declaratives and metadataassociated with the selected layout; and cause to generate the mobileapplication at least based on the determined metadata associated withthe one or more selected declaratives and with the selected layout.

The disclosed implementations may include a computer program productcomprising computer-readable program code to be executed by one or moreprocessors of a computing system when retrieved from a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium, the program code including instructions toprovide a user interface to enable selecting one or more declaratives togenerate a mobile application, wherein the one or more declaratives areused to visually configure characteristics of the mobile application;receive data corresponding to selection of one or more declaratives forthe mobile application; receive data corresponding to selection of alayout to associate the one or more selected declaratives with themobile application; determine metadata associated with the one or moreselected declaratives and metadata associated with the selected layout;and cause to generate the mobile application at least based on thedetermined metadata associated with the one or more selecteddeclaratives and with the selected layout.

While one or more implementations and techniques are described withreference to generating a mobile application implemented in a systemhaving an application server providing a front end for an on-demanddatabase service capable of supporting multiple tenants, the one or moreimplementations and techniques are not limited to multi-tenant databasesnor deployment on application servers. Implementations may be practicedusing other database architectures, i.e., ORACLE®, DB2® by IBM and thelike without departing from the scope of the claimed subject matter.Further, some implementations may include using Hardware Security Module(HSM), a physical computing device that safeguards and manages digitalkeys for strong authentication, including, for example, the keys used toencrypt secrets associated with the data elements stored in the datastores. It may be noted that the term “data store” may refer to sourcecontrol systems, file storage, virtual file systems, non-relationaldatabases (such as NoSQL), etc. For example, the migrated data may bestored in a source control system and then exposed through a virtualfile system.

Any of the above implementations may be used alone or together with oneanother in any combination. The one or more implementations encompassedwithin this specification may also include examples that are onlypartially mentioned or alluded to or are not mentioned or alluded to atall in this brief summary or in the abstract. Although variousimplementations may have been motivated by various deficiencies with theprior art, which may be discussed or alluded to in one or more places inthe specification, the implementations do not necessarily address any ofthese deficiencies. In other words, different implementations mayaddress different deficiencies that may be discussed in thespecification. Some implementations may only partially address somedeficiencies or just one deficiency that may be discussed in thespecification, and some implementations may not address any of thesedeficiencies.

Some implementations may include methods and systems for generating amobile application using a declarative user interface. A user may accessthe declarative user interface from a mobile computing system such as,for example, a smart phone. Multiple mobile applications may begenerated using the declarative user interface.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an example computing system that may be used withsome implementations. In diagram 102, computing system 110 may be usedby a user to establish a connection with a server computing system.

The computing system 110 is only one example of a suitable computingsystem, such as a mobile computing system, and is not intended tosuggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality of thedesign. Neither should the computing system 110 be interpreted as havingany dependency or requirement relating to any one or combination ofcomponents illustrated. The design is operational with numerous othergeneral purpose or special purpose computing systems. Examples ofwell-known computing systems, environments, and/or configurations thatmay be suitable for use with the design include, but are not limited to,personal computers, server computers, hand-held or laptop devices,multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes,programmable consumer electronics, mini-computers, mainframe computers,distributed computing environments that include any of the above systemsor devices, and the like. For example, the computing system 110 may beimplemented as a mobile computing system such as one that is configuredto run with an operating system (e.g., iOS) developed by Apple Inc. ofCupertino, Calif. or an operating system (e.g., Android) that isdeveloped by Google Inc. of Mountain View, Calif.

Some implementations may be described in the general context ofcomputing system executable instructions, such as program modules, beingexecuted by a computer. Generally, program modules include routines,programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that performsparticular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Thoseskilled in the art can implement the description and/or figures hereinas computer-executable instructions, which can be embodied on any formof computing machine program product discussed below.

Some implementations may also be practiced in distributed computingenvironments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices thatare linked through a communications network. In a distributed computingenvironment, program modules may be located in both local and remotecomputer storage media including memory storage devices.

Referring to FIG. 1, the computing system 110 may include, but are notlimited to, a processing unit 120 having one or more processing cores, asystem memory 130, and a system bus 121 that couples various systemcomponents including the system memory 130 to the processing unit 120.The system bus 121 may be any of several types of bus structuresincluding a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and alocal bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. By way ofexample, and not limitation, such architectures include IndustryStandard Architecture (ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus,Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA)locale bus, and Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus also knownas Mezzanine bus.

The computing system 110 typically includes a variety of computerprogram product. Computer program product can be any available mediathat can be accessed by computing system 110 and includes both volatileand nonvolatile media, removable and non-removable media. By way ofexample, and not limitation, computer program product may storeinformation such as computer readable instructions, data structures,program modules or other data. Computer storage media include, but arenot limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memorytechnology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical diskstorage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage orother magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used tostore the desired information and which can be accessed by computingsystem 110. Communication media typically embodies computer readableinstructions, data structures, or program modules.

The system memory 130 may include computer storage media in the form ofvolatile and/or nonvolatile memory such as read only memory (ROM) 131and random access memory (RAM) 132. A basic input/output system (BIOS)133, containing the basic routines that help to transfer informationbetween elements within computing system 110, such as during start-up,is typically stored in ROM 131. RAM 132 typically contains data and/orprogram modules that are immediately accessible to and/or presentlybeing operated on by processing unit 120. By way of example, and notlimitation, FIG. 1 also illustrates operating system 134, applicationprograms 135, other program modules 136, and program data 137.

The computing system 110 may also include other removable/non-removablevolatile/nonvolatile computer storage media. By way of example only,FIG. 1 also illustrates a hard disk drive 141 that reads from or writesto non-removable, nonvolatile magnetic media, a magnetic disk drive 151that reads from or writes to a removable, nonvolatile magnetic disk 152,and an optical disk drive 155 that reads from or writes to a removable,nonvolatile optical disk 156 such as, for example, a CD ROM or otheroptical media. Other removable/non-removable, volatile/nonvolatilecomputer storage media that can be used in the exemplary operatingenvironment include, but are not limited to, USB drives and devices,magnetic tape cassettes, flash memory cards, digital versatile disks,digital video tape, solid state RAM, solid state ROM, and the like. Thehard disk drive 141 is typically connected to the system bus 121 througha non-removable memory interface such as interface 140, and magneticdisk drive 151 and optical disk drive 155 are typically connected to thesystem bus 121 by a removable memory interface, such as interface 150.

The drives and their associated computer storage media discussed aboveand illustrated in FIG. 1, provide storage of computer readableinstructions, data structures, program modules and other data for thecomputing system 110. In FIG. 1, for example, hard disk drive 141 isillustrated as storing operating system 144, application programs 145,other program modules 146, and program data 147. Note that thesecomponents can either be the same as or different from operating system134, application programs 135, other program modules 136, and programdata 137. The operating system 144, the application programs 145, theother program modules 146, and the program data 147 are given differentnumeric identification here to illustrate that, at a minimum, they aredifferent copies.

A user may enter commands and information into the computing system 110through input devices such as a keyboard 162, a microphone 163, and apointing device 161, such as a mouse, trackball or touch pad or touchscreen. Other input devices (not shown) may include a joystick, gamepad, scanner, or the like. These and other input devices are oftenconnected to the processing unit 120 through a user input interface 160that is coupled with the system bus 121, but may be connected by otherinterface and bus structures, such as a parallel port, game port or auniversal serial bus (USB). A monitor 191 or other type of displaydevice is also connected to the system bus 121 via an interface, such asa video interface 190. In addition to the monitor, computers may alsoinclude other peripheral output devices such as speakers 197 and printer196, which may be connected through an output peripheral interface 190.

The computing system 110 may operate in a networked environment usinglogical connections to one or more remote computers, such as a remotecomputer 180. The remote computer 180 may be a personal computer, ahand-held device, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device orother common network node, and typically includes many or all of theelements described above relative to the computing system 110. Thelogical connections depicted in FIG. 1 include a local area network(LAN) 171 and a wide area network (WAN) 173 but may also include othernetworks. Such networking environments are commonplace in offices,enterprise-wide computer networks, intranets and the Internet.

FIG. 1 includes a local area network (LAN) 171 and a wide area network(WAN) 173 but may also include other networks. Such networkingenvironments are commonplace in offices, enterprise-wide computernetworks, intranets and the Internet.

When used in a LAN networking environment, the computing system 110 maybe connected to the LAN 171 through a network interface or adapter 170.When used in a WAN networking environment, the computing system 110typically includes a modem 172 or other means for establishingcommunications over the WAN 173, such as the Internet. The modem 172,which may be internal or external, may be connected to the system bus121 via the user-input interface 160, or other appropriate mechanism. Ina networked environment, program modules depicted relative to thecomputing system 110, or portions thereof, may be stored in a remotememory storage device. By way of example, and not limitation, FIG. 1illustrates remote application programs 185 as residing on remotecomputer 180. It will be appreciated that the network connections shownare exemplary and other means of establishing a communications linkbetween the computers may be used.

It should be noted that some implementations may be carried out on acomputing system such as that described with respect to FIG. 1. However,some implementations may be carried out on a server, a computer devotedto message handling, handheld devices, or on a distributed system inwhich different portions of the present design may be carried out ondifferent parts of the distributed computing system.

Another device that may be coupled with the system bus 121 is a powersupply such as a battery or a Direct Current (DC) power supply) andAlternating Current (AC) adapter circuit. The DC power supply may be abattery, a fuel cell, or similar DC power source needs to be rechargedon a periodic basis. The communication module (or modem) 172 may employa Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) to establish a wirelesscommunication channel. The communication module 172 may implement awireless networking standard such as Institute of Electrical andElectronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard, IEEE std. 802.11-1999,published by IEEE in 1999.

Examples of mobile computing systems may be a laptop computer, a tabletcomputer, a Netbook, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant, orother similar device with on board processing power and wirelesscommunications ability that is powered by a Direct Current (DC) powersource that supplies DC voltage to the mobile computing system and thatis solely within the mobile computing system and needs to be rechargedon a periodic basis, such as a fuel cell or a battery.

FIG. 2 shows a diagram of an example network environment that may beused with some implementations. Diagram 200 includes computing systems290 and 291. One or more of the computing systems 290 and 291 may be amobile computing system. The computing systems 290 and 291 may beconnected to the network 250 via a cellular connection or via a Wi-Firouter (not shown). The network 250 may be the Internet. The computingsystems 290 and 291 may be coupled with server computing systems 255 viathe network 250. The server computing system 255 may be coupled withdatabase 270.

Each of the computing systems 290 and 291 may include an applicationmodule such as module 208 or 214. For example, a user may use thecomputing system 290 and the application module 208 to connect to andcommunicate with the server computing system 255 and log intoapplication 257. The user may need to be authenticated. For someimplementations, the server computing system 255 may host applicationbuilder 260 configured to generate mobile applications. The applicationbuilder 260 may be configured to retrieve information from and to storeinformation in the database 270. For example, the database 270 may beconfigured to store product information or service information for abusiness associated with a mobile application generated using theapplication builder 260. As another example, the database 270 may beconfigured to store metadata associated with a mobile applicationgenerated using the application builder 260. For some implementations,the application builder 260 may be associated with a mobile versionconfigured to execute in a mobile computing system such as a smart phoneto generate the mobile applications. The mobile version of theapplication builder 260 may be configured to access information storedin the database 270.

FIG. 3 shows an example development life cycle that may be used togenerate mobile applications, in accordance with some implementations.Typically, a development life cycle may include a series of tasks. Forexample, the tasks may be divided into stages which may includerequirement collection stage, application design stage, softwaredevelopment stage, integration and testing stage, and deployment stage.Having a development life cycle may be useful because it providesconsistency to develop applications, and it keeps track of tasks to beperformed to ensure that the development effort results in qualityapplications. The development life cycle described above may be morefitting for a team of experienced software developers developingcommercial applications rather than for a normal user or a smallbusiness proprietor who may not have any programming background.

Diagram 300 includes a development life cycle that may enable a smallbusiness proprietor or someone with minimal or no prior programmingbackground to generate quality mobile applications. The development lifecycle of diagram 300 may include application building stage 305,metadata configuration stage 310, configuration integration stage 315and application deployment stage 320.

For some implementations, during the application building stage 305, auser may use the application builder 260 (shown in FIG. 2) to startgenerating a mobile application. The application builder 260 may beconfigured to enable a user to interactively select features orcharacteristics of a mobile application to be generated. For someimplementation, the application builder 260 may be configured to includea declarative user interface to enable a user to select options from amenu to configure a mobile application. The user may also select optionsby clicking on buttons displayed via the declarative user interface.Different types of software-enabled buttons may be implemented. As willbe described, the declarative user interface is an interface that mayenable a user to interact with to visually generate various features ofa mobile application. For example, a user may select a horizontal layoutthat can be used to display a product horizontally.

For some implementations, during the metadata configuration stage 310,metadata may be generated based on options (also referred to asdeclaratives) selected via the declarative user interface. For example,when a horizontal layout is selected, metadata associated with thehorizontal layout may be determined. As another example, when a colorscheme is selected, metadata associated with the color scheme may bedetermined. For some implementations, the metadata configuration stage310 may include operation of a metadata engine 505 (shown in FIG. 5A)configured to combine the metadata determined based on the optionsselected via the declarative user interface. The metadata combined bythe metadata engine 405 may be used to generate a mobile application.

For some implementations, during the configuration integration stage315, the metadata combined by the metadata engine 405 during themetadata configuration stage 310 may be customized to generate a uniquemobile application for a particular business or store. For someimplementations, a globally unique application identifier may begenerated to ensure that the mobile applications when published isconsidered a unique application from an identification perspective. Thecustomized unique mobile application generated by the configurationintegration stage 315 may enable the application to be deployed ordistributed to an app store during the application deployment stage 320as a unique app. This may prevent the mobile application from beingrejected by the app store as a clone app of another app generated usingthe same development life cycle.

FIG. 4A shows an example application builder, in accordance with someimplementations. Diagram 400 includes the application builder 260 whichmay be configured to enable generating multiple mobile applications 405,410, 414 and 420. For some implementations, the application builder 260may be a mobile application configured to execute on a mobile computingsystem such as a smart phone. For example, the application builder 260may be an application that executes in an Android or an iOS environment,and it may be distributed via an app store such as, for example, GooglePlay App Store or Apple App Store. A user may search for the applicationbuilder 260 from the app store, download and install the applicationbuilder 260 onto mobile computing system 450, and run the applicationbuilder 260 from the mobile computing system 450 to generate a mobileapplication for a business. The application builder 260 may include adeclarative user interface 440 to enable visually configuring a mobileapplication.

For some implementations, the mobile applications (also referred to asshopping apps) may be configured to operate with small and mediumbusinesses or stores that sell products and/or services. A user may usethe application builder 260 to generate a consumer grade shopping appand to enable a business to have a presence in an app store with minimaltime investment and without the typical high cost of associated withmobile app development. For example, the shopping app 405 may beassociated with a music store, the shopping app 410 may be associatedwith a pizza store, the shopping app 415 may be associated with asporting goods store, and the shopping app 420 may be associated with abarber shop.

FIG. 4B is an example screen shot of a home page of a mobile appassociated with a declarative user interface, in accordance with someimplementations. The declarative user interface 440 may be a visualinterface that can be used to compose a shopping app. The declarativeuser interface 440 may include a set of screens that have options thatallow non-technical users to configure a shopping app, includingdetermining the layouts used, the primary color for the palette, etc.The declarative user interface 440 may also include menus and visualmenu options to configure a shopping app. For example, a user may selectvisual option 450 to set up a shopping app for a business and visualoption 455 to add a product to the shopping app. Visual options 450 and455 are examples of declaratives in a declarative user interface. Forsome implementations, when an option is selected, metadata correspondingto the selected option may be determined from a set of pre-builtmetadata.

The declarative user interface 440 may enable a user to select options(or declaratives) and configure the shopping app in real time. A previewoption may be available to preview the shopping app as the shopping appis being configured. A save option may be available to save the selectedoptions and to generate a shopping app based on the metadata associatedwith the selected options. For some implementations, data import option460 may be available to enable importing existing data stored in aserver environment into the shopping app. In this example, the businessmay already be a subscriber to services offered by Salesforce.com of SanFrancisco, Calif. For example, product data may be stored in a databaseassociated with Salesforce.com.

FIG. 5A shows an example diagram of metadata categories associated witha metadata engine, in accordance with some implementations. Diagram 500includes the metadata engine 505 which may be configured to operate onthe metadata generated based on selection of options in the declarativeuser interface. For some implementations, the metadata may becategorized as description metadata 410, navigation and structuremetadata 415, product schema metadata 420, and transaction andprocessing metadata 425. The operation of the metadata engine 505 may beassociated with the metadata configuration stage 310 (shown in FIG. 3).

For some implementations, the description metadata 410 may includemetadata associated with a name of a business, a description of thebusiness, a business icon, a color scheme and a font scheme. In general,the description metadata 410 may be used for branding and theming of ashopping app. The color scheme and font scheme are described in FIG. 5B.

For some implementations, the navigation and structure metadata 415 mayinclude metadata associated with global navigation and metadataassociated with product and service navigation. The global navigationmay be related to how a user navigate around the shopping app. Theproduct and service navigation may be related to how a user navigate aparticular product or a service. The navigation may include selectingoptions using a menu or tab bar and transitioning among pages andproducts or services. The extent of the navigation around a set ofavailable products and services in a shopping app may be a function of aset of available product items. For some implementations, there may benavigation patterns available for businesses with small, medium andlarge number of product items. Features such as search andcategorization may be included or excluded depending on how the shoppingapp is implemented. Configuration of the global navigation and productand services navigation may be performed using the application builder260. In general, the navigation and structure metadata 415 may be usedto enable a user to navigate around a shopping app based on how theshopping app is structured.

For some implementations, the product schema metadata 420 may includemetadata associated with products and/or services offered by a business.This may include, for example, the format of how the product data isorganized including, for example, field names associated with theproduct data. This may also include information about where the productdata is stored. For example, the product data may be stored in database270 (shown in FIG. 2). In general, the product schema metadata 420connects the shopping app to one or more of the products and servicesoffered by a business or store associated with a shopping app.

For some implementations, the transaction and processing metadata 425may include metadata associated with operations to perform when a userselects a product or a service. This may include, for example,operations related to a purchase transaction and a payment transactionby a customer of a business associated with a shopping app. In general,the transaction and processing metadata 425 may enable purchases of oneor more of the products and services associated with a shopping app tobe completed. Following is an example metadata that includes metadataassociated with a horizontal layout and metadata associated with avertical layout:

 {  “name”: “product_compact”,  “items”: [ { “type”:“HorizontalLayoutItem”, “item”: { “items”: [ { “type”:“MediaLayoutItem”, “item”: { “size”: “medium”, “field”: “media”,“filter”: “first”, “margin”: { “right”: “xsmall” } } }, { “type”:“VerticalLayoutItem”, “item”: { “items”: [ { “type”: “TextLayoutItem”,“item”: { “textStyle”: “headline”, “multiline”: false, “field”: “name” }}, { “type”: “TextLayoutItem” “item”: { “textStyle”: “body”,“multiline”: true, “field”: “description”, “margin”: { “top”: “xsmall” }} } ], “alignment”: “top” } } ], “alignment”: “left”, “margin”: {“around”: “xsmall” } } } ] }

FIG. 5B shows an example relationship of colors used in a color schemefor a shopping app, in accordance with some implementations. A colorscheme and font scheme in the description metadata 410 may be based on aprimary color selected by a user. The primary color may be a color thatis used as a main theme of the shopping app, and it may be a color thatis used most often. For some implementations, a primary color may bespecified by selecting a color scheme option or declarative from thedeclarative user interface. For example, the primary color may beselected based on a brand color associated with a business. For someimplementations, the color scheme may include at least a primary color,a secondary color, an error color, a background color and a surfacecolor. The secondary color 560 may be a complementary color of theprimary color 555 (as determined by the complementary color module 558).The error color 565 may be a monochromatic color of the primary color555 (as determined by the monochromatic color module 562). Thebackground color 570 may be either black or white depending onluminosity of the primary color 555 (as determined by the luminositymodule 568) based on a threshold value. For example, when the luminosityof the primary color is more than 35%, the background color 570 iswhite; otherwise, the background 570 color is black. The surface color575 may be determined from the background color 570 by determining theluminosity of the background color 570 (as determined by the luminositymodule 568). When the luminosity of the background color 575 violates athreshold value, the surface color 575 may be the background color 570with an increase in brightness adjusted based on a delta value. When theluminosity of the background color 570 does not violate the secondthreshold value, the surface color 575 may be the background color 570with a decrease in brightness adjusted based on the delta value. Thesurface color 575 may be viewed as an accent color of the backgroundcolor. Accent may be determined as brighter or darker from thebackground color 570 by taking the background color 570 and adjustingthe brightness of the background color 570 by the delta value to get theaccent color. The primary color 555, the secondary color 560, the errorcolor 565, the background color 570, and the surface color 575 may beassociated with different frames of a shopping app. A detaileddescription of techniques to generate a color scheme and font scheme isdiscussed in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/861,410, titled “PALETTE MANAGEMENT USER INTERFACE”, by PhillipNorman Calvin, filed Apr. 29, 2020, which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety and for all purposes.

FIG. 6A shows an example data structure associated with a shopping app,in accordance with some implementations. Diagram 600 includes acontainer data structure configured to include multiple objects. In thisexample, the store 605 may be a container. All the products and producttypes are contained within a container. An instance of the store 605(also referred to as store container) may include product type object610. The product type object 610 may be associated with category object615, availability object 620, layout object 625 and productconfiguration object 630. An instance of the store container may beassociated with a particular business and a corresponding shopping app.

For some implementations, the product type object 610 may be associatedwith the following structure:

-   -   a unique product type ID    -   a human readable product type name such as, for example, as        Pizza, Shirt, Haircut, etc.    -   a set of fields that define the product such as, for example,        product name, images, etc.    -   a set of options that are available to configure a product such        as, for example, size, color, frame, material, etc.        For example, the product type object 610 may include product        parameter 612, field parameter 613 and option parameter 614.        Other parameters may also be possible. The product parameter 612        may be related to an instance of a particular product and may        include product type name and product type ID. The field        parameter 613 may be related to information about a product of a        product type. For example, the field parameter 613 may include        text such as product name, list, image, video, etc. about a        particular product. For some implementations, a field parameter        613 may be configured visually. The option parameter 614 may be        related to configurable appearances for a product type. This may        include configuring size, color, style, list of items, etc. for        a product type. For some implementations, the option parameter        614 may be configured visually using an editor associated with        the declarative user interface 440.

For some implementations, the category object 615 may be associated withan organizational unit for a group of products. For example, for a musicstore business, the products may be categorized under heavy metals,classic 50s and classic 80s. For some implementations, the availabilityobject 520 may be associated with availability information for aparticular product or service instance as related to inventory.

For some implementations, the layout object 525 may be associated withvisual organization of the fields and options to display on a particularproduct instance of a particular product type. The visualizations in thefield and options may be rendered in the layout. The layout may alsoinclude simple positional layout items such as a horizontal layout itemand a vertical layout item. There may be a product list layout to enableviewing a list of products, and there may be a product lay out to enableviewing a single product. The product layout may include a compactlayout and a detailed layout. For some implementations, the differentlayouts may be associated with metadata, and there may be pre-builtmetadata for each type of layout.

For some implementations, the product configuration object 530 may berelated to a particular configuration of a product with a particular setof option values. The options may be related to size, color and texture.This may allow configuring how a product is viewed. For example, animage of a product can be displayed as small, medium or large, and alayout of a product can be a compact layout or a detailed layout. Forsome implementations, the size and layout information may be selectedbased on visual representation instead of based on numericrepresentation or specific numbering.

A product configuration may involve combining a particular detailedlayout with a rendering of each of the individual options that areavailable for the particular product type. Following is a code examplethat may be used to define product types:

{ productTypes: [  { id: ′′ name: ′Cleaning Service’ fields: [.... listof fields ....] options: [.... list of options ....] layouts: [.... listof layouts ....] availability: [{always}]  },  { id: ′′ name: ′PizzaShop′ fields: [.... list of fields ....] options: [.... list of options....] layouts: [.... list of layouts ....] availability: [{always}]  },{ id: ′′ name: ′Music Store′ fields: [.... list of fields ....] options:[.... list of options ....] layouts: [.... list of layouts ....]availability: [{always}]  },  { id: ′′ name: ′Beauty Store′availability: [Monday-Friday, 10 am to 8 pm] }, ] }

Using the container data structure of diagram 600, an exampleproduct-based business such as a music store may be associated with acontainer instance having the following values:

-   -   Music Store (a container)—this container has several objects        -   Album (a product type object)—describes an album and has            several parameters            -   Field Parameter                -   Text Field—Album title                -   Image Field—Album artwork                -   List Field—Songs            -   Option Parameter                -   Media Type—A list of the medium to deliver the album                    on, e.g., 8-Track, Cassette, Album, CD, MP3            -   Layout Parameter                -   A compact layout—showing just the album artwork                -   Detailed Layout—showing title, artwork, and listing                    of all songs        -   Concert Artwork (a product type object)—describes posters,            pictures and has several parameters            -   Field Parameter                -   Text Field—The title                -   Image Field—The picture            -   Option Parameter                -   Size—Size of picture when purchased                -   Material—List of material to print picture on                -   Frame—List of frame options        -   Layout Parameter            -   A compact layout—showing the picture with an image above                it        -   Concert Shirt (a product type object)—describes concert            t-shirt and has several parameters            -   Field Parameter                -   Text Field—Name of concert t-shirt                -   Image Field—Picture of the t-shirt                -   List Field—List of shirt pictures: front, back,                    side, focus on sleeves            -   Option Parameter                -   Size: Available sizes for t-shirt            -   Layout Parameter                -   A compact layout—showing just the t-shirt                -   Detailed Layout—showing the t-shirt and a name with                    a carousel allowing a user to swipe through the                    images        -   Music Categories (a category object)—describes different            types of music            -   Heavy Metal            -   Classic 50s            -   Classic 80s

Using the container data structure of diagram 600, an exampleservice-based business such as a beauty store may be associated with acontainer instance having the following hierarchy of values:

-   -   Beauty store (a container)—this container has several objects        -   Haircut (a product type object)—describes genders for            haircut            -   Option Parameter                -   Male                -   Female                -   Children        -   Hair Coloring (a product type object)—describes coloring            types            -   Option Parameter                -   Temporary                -   Semi-Permanent                -   Permanent

Initially, when a shopping app is generated, some sample values may beused to populate an instance of a store container associated with theshopping app. The sample values may be updated with actual values. Forexample, to populate an instance of the store container 605, a user mayadd a product by selecting a product type from a list of availableproduct types. The user may then be presented with possible fields inthe product type with which to fill in the details. A category optionmay be presented to enable the user to enter categories when applicable.It may be possible that some small businesses may not be associated withmany categories and may not fully utilize the complete hierarchy of thestore container 605. For some implementations, when existing productdata is available, a user may choose to import the existing data, asdescribed with FIG. 4B.

FIG. 6B is an example screen shot of a shopping app showing the globalnavigation, in accordance with some implementations. In this example,the global navigation 640 may include options to navigate to a homepage, a search page, a shopping cart page, an order page and ascheduling page. Depending on the type of business that the shopping appis generated for, the options included in the global navigation mayvary. For some implementations, the home page of the shopping app mayconsist of a series of cards. A card is a technique to design a userinterface (also referred to as card user interface). A card may holdinformation such as text, image, buttons, etc. designed together toachieve certain user experience. A card may be swiped vertically orhorizontally to display a different card. The cards may include varyingcontent and may be statically positioned in the shopping app ordynamically pushed from a server computing system to the shopping app.For some implementations, the home page of the application builder 260may also be implemented using a card user interface. The globalnavigation shown in FIG. 6B may be configured by the navigation andstructure metadata 515 (shown in FIG. 5A).

FIG. 6C is an example screen shot of a shopping app showing the productnavigation, in accordance with some implementations. In this example,the products are grouped in categories 645 (e.g., accessories, clothing,etc.). A user may select a product in those categories. Each of theproducts in each category is shown displayed in a compact layout. In acompact layout, only an image of a product may be displayed. In thisexample, the list of products may be displayed using a horizontal layoutwhere the images of the products are shown horizontally. FIG. 6D is anexample screen shot of a shopping app showing the service navigation, inaccordance with some implementations. In this example, each of theservices is displayed with a detailed layout having text and images. Inthis example, the list of services may be displayed using a verticallayout. For some implementations, the display of a product or a servicemay be implemented by taking a product or a service and a particularlayout and create a view for that product or service. This may beaccomplished by evaluating the information available for a product(e.g., text, image, video) and a layout (e.g., horizontal or vertical)that the product is to be render with. The product and servicenavigation shown in FIG. 6C and FIG. 6D may be configured by thenavigation and structure metadata 515 (shown in FIG. 5A).

FIG. 6E is an example screen shot of a shopping app showing the productconfiguration options, in accordance with some implementations. In thisexample, the product configuration option involves different coloroptions 655 that may be selected to render as a background display color660 of a product using a particular layout. Description 658 may beprovided to provide more detail information about the product. Theproduct configuration shown in FIG. 6E may be configured by thedescription metadata 510 (shown in FIG. 5A).

FIG. 6F is an example screen shot of a shopping app showing a detailedview of a product and add-to-cart option, in accordance with someimplementations. The screen shot of FIG. 6F may be displayed as a resultof navigating from a selection of a product displayed in a category asshown in the example screen shot of FIG. 6C. An add-to-cart option 665may be added to the detailed view of a product. Other options may alsobe added including, for example, the check-product-availability option664 and add-to-favorite option 666. FIG. 6G is an example screen shot ofa shopping cart content, in accordance with some implementations. Theshopping cart content option 670 may be added to enable viewing productsthat have been added to a shopping cart. The products in the shoppingcart may be displayed using either a compact layout or a detailedlayout. The shopping cart options shown in FIG. 6F and FIG. 6G may beconfigured by the transaction and processing metadata 525 (shown in FIG.5A).

FIG. 7 is an example flow diagram of a process that may be used togenerate a shopping app using an application builder, in accordance withsome implementations. The process may be performed using an applicationbuilder such as application builder 260 (shown in FIG. 4A) and adeclarative user interface such as the declarative user interface 440(shown in FIG. 4A). At block 705, a declarative user interface may beprovided to enable selecting one or more declaratives to configure amobile application. The one or more declaratives may be used to visuallyconfigure characteristics of the mobile application. The declarativeuser interface may be provided by a mobile computing system. At block710, data corresponding to selection of one or more declaratives for themobile application may be received. At block 715, data corresponding toselection of a layout to associate the one or more selected declarativeswith the mobile application may be received. At block 720, metadataassociated with the one or more selected declaratives may be determined.The metadata may be determined from a set of pre-built metadata. Atblock 725, a mobile application may be generated based on the metadataassociated with the one or more selected declaratives and the layout.

FIG. 8A shows a system diagram 800 illustrating architectural componentsof an on-demand service environment, in accordance with someimplementations. A client machine located in the cloud 804 (or Internet)may communicate with the on-demand service environment via one or moreedge routers 808 and 812. The edge routers may communicate with one ormore core switches 820 and 824 via firewall 816. The core switches maycommunicate with a load balancer 828, which may distribute server loadover different pods, such as the pods 840 and 844. The pods 840 and 844,which may each include one or more servers and/or other computingresources, may perform data processing and other operations used toprovide on-demand Services. Communication with the pods may be conductedvia pod switches 832 and 836. Components of the on-demand serviceenvironment may communicate with a database storage system 856 via adatabase firewall 848 and a database switch 852.

As shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B, accessing an on-demand service environmentmay involve communications transmitted among a variety of differenthardware and/or software components. Further, the on-demand serviceenvironment 800 is a simplified representation of an actual on-demandservice environment. For example, while only one or two devices of eachtype are shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B, some implementations of an on-demandservice environment may include anywhere from one to many devices ofeach type. Also, the on-demand service environment need not include eachdevice shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B or may include additional devices notshown in FIGS. 8A and 8B.

Moreover, one or more of the devices in the on-demand serviceenvironment 800 may be implemented on the same physical device or ondifferent hardware. Some devices may be implemented using hardware or acombination of hardware and software. Thus, terms such as “dataprocessing apparatus,” “machine,” “server” and “device” as used hereinare not limited to a single hardware device, but rather include anyhardware and software configured to provide the described functionality.

The cloud 804 is intended to refer to a data network or plurality ofdata networks, often including the Internet. Client machines located inthe cloud 804 may communicate with the on-demand service environment toaccess services provided by the on-demand service environment. Forexample, client machines may access the on-demand service environment toretrieve, store, edit, and/or process information.

In some implementations, the edge routers 808 and 812 route packetsbetween the cloud 804 and other components of the on-demand serviceenvironment 800. The edge routers 808 and 812 may employ the BorderGateway Protocol (BGP). The BGP is the core routing protocol of theInternet. The edge routers 808 and 812 may maintain a table of IPnetworks or ‘prefixes’ which designate network reachability amongautonomous systems on the Internet.

In one or more implementations, the firewall 816 may protect the innercomponents of the on-demand service environment 800 from Internettraffic. The firewall 816 may block, permit, or deny access to the innercomponents of the on-demand service environment 800 based upon a set ofrules and other criteria. The firewall 816 may act as one or more of apacket filter, an application gateway, a stateful filter, a proxyserver, or any other type of firewall.

In some implementations, the core switches 820 and 824 are high-capacityswitches that transfer packets within the on-demand service environment800. The core switches 820 and 824 may be configured as network bridgesthat quickly route data between different components within theon-demand service environment. In some implementations, the use of twoor more core switches 820 and 824 may provide redundancy and/or reducedlatency.

In some implementations, the pods 840 and 844 may perform the core dataprocessing and service functions provided by the on-demand serviceenvironment. Each pod may include various types of hardware and/orsoftware computing resources. An example of the pod architecture isdiscussed in greater detail with reference to FIG. 8B.

In some implementations, communication between the pods 840 and 844 maybe conducted via the pod switches 832 and 836. The pod switches 832 and836 may facilitate communication between the pods 840 and 844 and clientmachines located in the cloud 804, for example via core switches 820 and824. Also, the pod switches 832 and 836 may facilitate communicationbetween the pods 840 and 844 and the database storage 856.

In some implementations, the load balancer 828 may distribute workloadbetween the pods 840 and 844. Balancing the on-demand service requestsbetween the pods may assist in improving the use of resources,increasing throughput, reducing response times, and/or reducingoverhead. The load balancer 828 may include multilayer switches toanalyze and forward traffic.

In some implementations, access to the database storage 856 may beguarded by a database firewall 848. The database firewall 848 may act asa computer application firewall operating at the database applicationlayer of a protocol stack. The database firewall 848 may protect thedatabase storage 856 from application attacks such as structure querylanguage (SQL) injection, database rootkits, and unauthorizedinformation disclosure.

In some implementations, the database firewall 848 may include a hostusing one or more forms of reverse proxy services to proxy trafficbefore passing it to a gateway router. The database firewall 848 mayinspect the contents of database traffic and block certain content ordatabase requests. The database firewall 848 may work on the SQLapplication level atop the TCP/IP stack, managing applications'connection to the database or SQL management interfaces as well asintercepting and enforcing packets traveling to or from a databasenetwork or application interface.

In some implementations, communication with the database storage system856 may be conducted via the database switch 852. The multi-tenantdatabase system 856 may include more than one hardware and/or softwarecomponents for handling database queries. Accordingly, the databaseswitch 852 may direct database queries transmitted by other componentsof the on-demand service environment (e.g., the pods 840 and 844) to thecorrect components within the database storage system 856. In someimplementations, the database storage system 856 is an on-demanddatabase system shared by many different organizations. The on-demanddatabase system may employ a multi-tenant approach, a virtualizedapproach, or any other type of database approach. An on-demand databasesystem is discussed in greater detail with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10.

FIG. 8B shows a system diagram illustrating the architecture of the pod844, in accordance with one implementation. The pod 844 may be used torender services to a user of the on-demand service environment 800. Insome implementations, each pod may include a variety of servers and/orother systems. The pod 844 includes one or more content batch servers864, content search servers 868, query servers 882, Fileforce servers886, access control system (ACS) servers 880, batch servers 884, and appservers 888. Also, the pod 844 includes database instances 890, quickfile systems (QFS) 892, and indexers 894. In one or moreimplementations, some or all communication between the servers in thepod 844 may be transmitted via the switch 836.

In some implementations, the application servers 888 may include ahardware and/or software framework dedicated to the execution ofprocedures (e.g., programs, routines, scripts) for supporting theconstruction of applications provided by the on-demand serviceenvironment 800 via the pod 844. Some such procedures may includeoperations for providing the services described herein. The contentbatch servers 864 may request internal to the pod. These requests may belong-running and/or not tied to a particular customer. For example, thecontent batch servers 864 may handle requests related to log mining,cleanup work, and maintenance tasks.

The content search servers 868 may provide query and indexer functions.For example, the functions provided by the content search servers 868may allow users to search through content stored in the on-demandservice environment. The Fileforce servers 886 may manage requestsinformation stored in the Fileforce storage 898. The Fileforce storage898 may store information such as documents, images, and basic largeobjects (BLOBs). By managing requests for information using theFileforce servers 886, the image footprint on the database may bereduced.

The query servers 882 may be used to retrieve information from one ormore file systems. For example, the query system 872 may receiverequests for information from the app servers 888 and then transmitinformation queries to the NFS 896 located outside the pod. The pod 844may share a database instance 890 configured as a multi-tenantenvironment in which different organizations share access to the samedatabase. Additionally, services rendered by the pod 844 may requirevarious hardware and/or software resources. In some implementations, theACS servers 880 may control access to data, hardware resources, orsoftware resources.

In some implementations, the batch servers 884 may process batch jobs,which are used to run tasks at specified times. Thus, the batch servers884 may transmit instructions to other servers, such as the app servers888, to trigger the batch jobs. For some implementations, the QFS 892may be an open source file system available from Sun Microsystems® ofSanta Clara, Calif. The QFS may serve as a rapid-access file system forstoring and accessing information available within the pod 844. The QFS892 may support some volume management capabilities, allowing many disksto be grouped together into a file system. File system metadata can bekept on a separate set of disks, which may be useful for streamingapplications where long disk seeks cannot be tolerated. Thus, the QFSsystem may communicate with one or more content search servers 868and/or indexers 894 to identify, retrieve, move, and/or update datastored in the network file systems 896 and/or other storage systems.

In some implementations, one or more query servers 882 may communicatewith the NFS 896 to retrieve and/or update information stored outside ofthe pod 844. The NFS 896 may allow servers located in the pod 844 toaccess information to access files over a network in a manner similar tohow local storage is accessed. In some implementations, queries from thequery servers 882 may be transmitted to the NFS 896 via the loadbalancer 820, which may distribute resource requests over variousresources available in the on-demand service environment. The NFS 896may also communicate with the QFS 892 to update the information storedon the NFS 896 and/or to provide information to the QFS 892 for use byservers located within the pod 844.

In some implementations, the pod may include one or more databaseinstances 890. The database instance 890 may transmit information to theQFS 892. When information is transmitted to the QFS, it may be availablefor use by servers within the pod 844 without requiring an additionaldatabase call. In some implementations, database information may betransmitted to the indexer 894. Indexer 894 may provide an index ofinformation available in the database 890 and/or QFS 892. The indexinformation may be provided to Fileforce servers 886 and/or the QFS 892.

FIG. 9 shows a block diagram of an environment 910 wherein an on-demanddatabase service might be used, in accordance with some implementations.Environment 910 includes an on-demand database service 916. User system912 may be any machine or system that is used by a user to access adatabase user system. For example, any of user systems 912 can be ahandheld computing system, a mobile phone, a laptop computer, aworkstation, and/or a network of computing systems. As illustrated inFIGS. 9 and 10, user systems 912 might interact via a network 914 withthe on-demand database service 916.

An on-demand database service, such as system 916, is a database systemthat is made available to outside users that do not need to necessarilybe concerned with building and/or maintaining the database system, butinstead may be available for their use when the users need the databasesystem (e.g., on the demand of the users). Some on-demand databaseservices may store information from one or more tenants stored intotables of a common database image to form a multi-tenant database system(MTS). Accordingly, “on-demand database service 916” and “system 916”will be used interchangeably herein. A database image may include one ormore database objects. A relational database management system (RDBMS)or the equivalent may execute storage and retrieval of informationagainst the database object(s). Application platform 918 may be aframework that allows the applications of system 916 to run, such as thehardware and/or software, e.g., the operating system. In animplementation, on-demand database service 916 may include anapplication platform 918 that enables creation, managing and executingone or more applications developed by the provider of the on-demanddatabase service, users accessing the on-demand database service viauser systems 912, or third party application developers accessing theon-demand database service via user systems 912.

One arrangement for elements of system 916 is shown in FIG. 9, includinga network interface 920, application platform 918, tenant data storage922 for tenant data 923, system data storage 924 for system data 925accessible to system 916 and possibly multiple tenants, program code 926for implementing various functions of system 916, and a process space928 for executing MTS system processes and tenant-specific processes,such as running applications as part of an application hosting service.Additional processes that may execute on system 916 include databaseindexing processes.

The users of user systems 912 may differ in their respective capacities,and the capacity of a particular user system 912 might be entirelydetermined by permissions (permission levels) for the current user. Forexample, where a call center agent is using a particular user system 912to interact with system 916, the user system 912 has the capacitiesallotted to that call center agent. However, while an administrator isusing that user system to interact with system 916, that user system hasthe capacities allotted to that administrator. In systems with ahierarchical role model, users at one permission level may have accessto applications, data, and database information accessible by a lowerpermission level user, but may not have access to certain applications,database information, and data accessible by a user at a higherpermission level. Thus, different users may have different capabilitieswith regard to accessing and modifying application and databaseinformation, depending on a user's security or permission level.

Network 914 is any network or combination of networks of devices thatcommunicate with one another. For example, network 914 can be any one orany combination of a LAN (local area network), WAN (wide area network),telephone network, wireless network, point-to-point network, starnetwork, token ring network, hub network, or other appropriateconfiguration. As the most common type of computer network in currentuse is a TCP/IP (Transfer Control Protocol and Internet Protocol)network (e.g., the Internet), that network will be used in many of theexamples herein. However, it should be understood that the networks usedin some implementations are not so limited, although TCP/IP is afrequently implemented protocol.

User systems 912 might communicate with system 916 using TCP/IP and, ata higher network level, use other common Internet protocols tocommunicate, such as HTTP, FTP, AFS, WAP, etc. In an example where HTTPis used, user system 912 might include an HTTP client commonly referredto as a “browser” for sending and receiving HTTP messages to and from anHTTP server at system 916. Such an HTTP server might be implemented asthe sole network interface between system 916 and network 914, but othertechniques might be used as well or instead. In some implementations,the interface between system 916 and network 914 includes load sharingfunctionality, such as round-robin HTTP request distributors to balanceloads and distribute incoming HTTP requests evenly over a plurality ofservers. At least as for the users that are accessing that server, eachof the plurality of servers has access to the MTS' data; however, otheralternative configurations may be used instead.

In some implementations, system 916, shown in FIG. 9, implements aweb-based customer relationship management (CRM) system. For example, insome implementations, system 916 includes application servers configuredto implement and execute CRM software applications as well as providerelated data, code, forms, web pages and other information to and fromuser systems 912 and to store to, and retrieve from, a database systemrelated data, objects, and Webpage content. With a multi-tenant system,data for multiple tenants may be stored in the same physical databaseobject, however, tenant data typically is arranged so that data of onetenant is kept logically separate from that of other tenants so that onetenant does not have access to another tenant's data, unless such datais expressly shared. In certain implementations, system 916 implementsapplications other than, or in addition to, a CRM application. Forexample, system 916 may provide tenant access to multiple hosted(standard and custom) applications. User (or third party developer)applications, which may or may not include CRM, may be supported by theapplication platform 918, which manages creation, storage of theapplications into one or more database objects and executing of theapplications in a virtual machine in the process space of the system916.

Each user system 912 could include a desktop personal computer,workstation, laptop, PDA, cell phone, or any wireless access protocol(WAP) enabled device or any other computing system capable ofinterfacing directly or indirectly to the Internet or other networkconnection. User system 912 typically runs an HTTP client, e.g., abrowsing program, such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer® browser,Mozilla's Firefox® browser, Opera's browser, or a WAP-enabled browser inthe case of a cell phone, PDA or other wireless device, or the like,allowing a user (e.g., subscriber of the multi-tenant database system)of user system 912 to access, process and view information, pages andapplications available to it from system 916 over network 914.

Each user system 912 also typically includes one or more user interfacedevices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, trackball, touch pad, touchscreen, pen or the like, for interacting with a graphical user interface(GUI) provided by the browser on a display (e.g., a monitor screen, LCDdisplay, etc.) in conjunction with pages, forms, applications and otherinformation provided by system 916 or other systems or servers. Forexample, the user interface device can be used to access data andapplications hosted by system 916, and to perform searches on storeddata, and otherwise allow a user to interact with various GUI pages thatmay be presented to a user. As discussed above, implementations aresuitable for use with the Internet, which refers to a specific globalinternetwork of networks. However, it should be understood that othernetworks can be used instead of the Internet, such as an intranet, anextranet, a virtual private network (VPN), a non-TCP/IP based network,any LAN or WAN or the like.

According to some implementations, each user system 912 and all of itscomponents are operator configurable using applications, such as abrowser, including computer code run using a central processing unitsuch as an Intel Pentium® processor or the like. Similarly, system 916(and additional instances of an MTS, where more than one is present) andall of their components might be operator configurable usingapplication(s) including computer code to run using a central processingunit such as processor system 917, which may include an Intel Pentium®processor or the like, and/or multiple processor units.

A computer program product implementation includes a machine-readablestorage medium (media) having instructions stored thereon/in which canbe used to program a computer to perform any of the processes of theimplementations described herein. Computer code for operating andconfiguring system 916 to intercommunicate and to process web pages,applications and other data and media content as described herein arepreferably downloaded and stored on a hard disk, but the entire programcode, or portions thereof, may also be stored in any other volatile ornon-volatile memory medium or device, such as a ROM or RAM, or providedon any media capable of storing program code, such as any type ofrotating media including floppy disks, optical discs, digital versatiledisk (DVD), compact disk (CD), microdrive, and magneto-optical disks,and magnetic or optical cards, nanosystems (including molecular memoryICs), or any type of media or device suitable for storing instructionsand/or data. Additionally, the entire program code, or portions thereof,may be transmitted and downloaded from a software source over atransmission medium, e.g., over the Internet, or from another server, ortransmitted over any other conventional network connection (e.g.,extranet, VPN, LAN, etc.) using any communication medium and protocols(e.g., TCP/IP, HTTP, HTTPS, Ethernet, etc.). It will also be appreciatedthat computer code for carrying out disclosed operations can beimplemented in any programming language that can be executed on a clientsystem and/or server or server system such as, for example, C, C++,HTML, any other markup language, Java™, JavaScript®, ActiveX®, any otherscripting language, such as VBScript, and many other programminglanguages as are well known may be used. (Java™ is a trademark of SunMicrosystems®, Inc.).

According to some implementations, each system 916 is configured toprovide web pages, forms, applications, data and media content to user(client) systems 912 to support the access by user systems 912 astenants of system 916. As such, system 916 provides security mechanismsto keep each tenant's data separate unless the data is shared. If morethan one MTS is used, they may be located in close proximity to oneanother (e.g., in a server farm located in a single building or campus),or they may be distributed at locations remote from one another (e.g.,one or more servers located in city A and one or more servers located incity B). As used herein, each MTS could include logically and/orphysically connected servers distributed locally or across one or moregeographic locations. Additionally, the term “server” is meant toinclude a computing system, including processing hardware and processspace(s), and an associated storage system and database application(e.g., OODBMS or RDBMS) as is well known in the art.

It should also be understood that “server system” and “server” are oftenused interchangeably herein. Similarly, the database object describedherein can be implemented as single databases, a distributed database, acollection of distributed databases, a database with redundant online oroffline backups or other redundancies, etc., and might include adistributed database or storage network and associated processingintelligence.

FIG. 10 also shows a block diagram of environment 910 furtherillustrating system 916 and various interconnections, in accordance withsome implementations. FIG. 10 shows that user system 912 may includeprocessor system 912A, memory system 912B, input system 912C, and outputsystem 912D. FIG. 10 shows network 914 and system 916. FIG. 10 alsoshows that system 916 may include tenant data storage 922, tenant data923, system data storage 924, system data 925, User Interface (UI) 1030,Application Program Interface (API) 1032, PL/SOQL 1034, save routines1036, application setup mechanism 1038, applications servers10001-1000N, system process space 1002, tenant process spaces 1004,tenant management process space 1010, tenant storage area 1012, userstorage 1014, and application metadata 1016. In other implementations,environment 910 may not have the same elements as those listed aboveand/or may have other elements instead of, or in addition to, thoselisted above.

User system 912, network 914, system 916, tenant data storage 922, andsystem data storage 924 were discussed above in FIG. 9. Regarding usersystem 912, processor system 912A may be any combination of processors.Memory system 912B may be any combination of one or more memory devices,short term, and/or long term memory. Input system 912C may be anycombination of input devices, such as keyboards, mice, trackballs,scanners, cameras, and/or interfaces to networks. Output system 912D maybe any combination of output devices, such as monitors, printers, and/orinterfaces to networks. As shown by FIG. 10, system 916 may include anetwork interface 920 (of FIG. 9) implemented as a set of HTTPapplication servers 1000, an application platform 918, tenant datastorage 922, and system data storage 924. Also shown is system processspace 1002, including individual tenant process spaces 1004 and a tenantmanagement process space 1010. Each application server 1000 may beconfigured to tenant data storage 922 and the tenant data 923 therein,and system data storage 924 and the system data 925 therein to serverequests of user systems 912. The tenant data 923 might be divided intoindividual tenant storage areas 1012, which can be either a physicalarrangement and/or a logical arrangement of data. Within each tenantstorage area 1012, user storage 1014 and application metadata 1016 mightbe similarly allocated for each user. For example, a copy of a user'smost recently used (MRU) items might be stored to user storage 1014.Similarly, a copy of MRU items for an entire organization that is atenant might be stored to tenant storage area 1012. A UI 1030 provides auser interface and an API 1032 provides an application programmerinterface to system 916 resident processes to users and/or developers atuser systems 912. The tenant data and the system data may be stored invarious databases, such as Oracle™ databases.

Application platform 918 includes an application setup mechanism 1038that supports application developers' creation and management ofapplications, which may be saved as metadata into tenant data storage922 by save routines 1036 for execution by subscribers as tenant processspaces 1004 managed by tenant management process 1010 for example.Invocations to such applications may be coded using PL/SOQL 34 thatprovides a programming language style interface extension to API 1032. Adetailed description of some PL/SOQL language implementations isdiscussed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 7,730,478, titled METHODAND SYSTEM FOR ALLOWING ACCESS TO DEVELOPED APPLICATIONS VIA AMULTI-TENANT ON-DEMAND DATABASE SERVICE, by Craig Weissman, filed Sep.21, 2007, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety andfor all purposes. Invocations to applications may be detected by systemprocesses, which manage retrieving application metadata 1016 for thesubscriber making the invocation and executing the metadata as anapplication in a virtual machine.

Each application server 1000 may be communicably coupled to databasesystems, e.g., having access to system data 925 and tenant data 923, viaa different network connection. For example, one application server10001 might be coupled via the network 914 (e.g., the Internet), anotherapplication server 1000N-1 might be coupled via a direct network link,and another application server 1000N might be coupled by yet a differentnetwork connection. Transfer Control Protocol and Internet Protocol(TCP/IP) are typical protocols for communicating between applicationservers 1000 and the database system. However, other transport protocolsmay be used to optimize the system depending on the network interconnectused.

In certain implementations, each application server 1000 is configuredto handle requests for any user associated with any organization that isa tenant. Because it is desirable to be able to add and removeapplication servers from the server pool at any time for any reason,there is preferably no server affinity for a user and/or organization toa specific application server 1000. In some implementations, therefore,an interface system implementing a load balancing function (e.g., an F5Big-IP load balancer) is communicably coupled between the applicationservers 1000 and the user systems 912 to distribute requests to theapplication servers 1000. In some implementations, the load balanceruses a least connections algorithm to route user requests to theapplication servers 1000. Other examples of load balancing algorithms,such as round robin and observed response time, also can be used. Forexample, in certain implementations, three consecutive requests from thesame user could hit three different application servers 1000, and threerequests from different users could hit the same application server1000. In this manner, system 916 is multi-tenant, wherein system 916handles storage of, and access to, different objects, data andapplications across disparate users and organizations.

As an example of storage, one tenant might be a company that employs asales force where each call center agent uses system 916 to manage theirsales process. Thus, a user might maintain contact data, leads data,customer follow-up data, performance data, goals and progress data,etc., all applicable to that user's personal sales process (e.g., intenant data storage 922). In an example of a MTS arrangement, since allof the data and the applications to access, view, modify, report,transmit, calculate, etc., can be maintained and accessed by a usersystem having nothing more than network access, the user can manage hisor her sales efforts and cycles from any of many different user systems.For example, if a call center agent is visiting a customer and thecustomer has Internet access in their lobby, the call center agent canobtain critical updates as to that customer while waiting for thecustomer to arrive in the lobby.

While each user's data might be separate from other users' dataregardless of the employers of each user, some data might beorganization-wide data shared or accessible by a plurality of users orall of the users for a given organization that is a tenant. Thus, theremight be some data structures managed by system 916 that are allocatedat the tenant level while other data structures might be managed at theuser level. Because an MTS might support multiple tenants includingpossible competitors, the MTS should have security protocols that keepdata, applications, and application use separate. Also, because manytenants may opt for access to an MTS rather than maintain their ownsystem, redundancy, up-time, and backup are additional functions thatmay be implemented in the MTS. In addition to user-specific data andtenant specific data, system 916 might also maintain system level datausable by multiple tenants or other data. Such system level data mightinclude industry reports, news, postings, and the like that are sharableamong tenants.

In certain implementations, user systems 912 (which may be clientmachines/systems) communicate with application servers 1000 to requestand update system-level and tenant-level data from system 916 that mayrequire sending one or more queries to tenant data storage 922 and/orsystem data storage 924. System 916 (e.g., an application server 1000 insystem 916) automatically generates one or more SQL statements (e.g.,SQL queries) that are designed to access the desired information. Systemdata storage 924 may generate query plans to access the requested datafrom the database.

Each database can generally be viewed as a collection of objects, suchas a set of logical tables, containing data fitted into predefinedcategories. A “table” is one representation of a data object and may beused herein to simplify the conceptual description of objects and customobjects according to some implementations. It should be understood that“table” and “object” may be used interchangeably herein. Each tablegenerally contains one or more data categories logically arranged ascolumns or fields in a viewable schema. Each row or record of a tablecontains an instance of data for each category defined by the fields.For example, a CRM database may include a table that describes acustomer with fields for basic contact information such as name,address, phone number, fax number, etc. Another table might describe apurchase order, including fields for information such as customer,product, sale price, date, etc. In some multi-tenant database systems,standard entity tables might be provided for use by all tenants. For CRMdatabase applications, such standard entities might include tables foraccount, contact, lead, and opportunity data, each containingpre-defined fields. It should be understood that the word “entity” mayalso be used interchangeably herein with “object” and “table”.

In some multi-tenant database systems, tenants may be allowed to createand store custom objects, or they may be allowed to customize standardentities or objects, for example by creating custom fields for standardobjects, including custom index fields. U.S. Pat. No. 7,779,039, titledCUSTOM ENTITIES AND FIELDS IN A MULTI-TENANT DATABASE SYSTEM, byWeissman, et al., and which is hereby incorporated by reference in itsentirety and for all purposes, teaches systems and methods for creatingcustom objects as well as customizing standard objects in a multi-tenantdatabase system. In some implementations, for example, all custom entitydata rows are stored in a single multi-tenant physical table, which maycontain multiple logical tables per organization. In someimplementations, multiple “tables” for a single customer may actually bestored in one large table and/or in the same table as the data of othercustomers.

These and other aspects of the disclosure may be implemented by varioustypes of hardware, software, firmware, etc. For example, some featuresof the disclosure may be implemented, at least in part, bymachine-program product that include program instructions, stateinformation, etc., for performing various operations described herein.Examples of program instructions include both machine code, such asproduced by a compiler, and files containing higher-level code that maybe executed by the computer using an interpreter. Examples ofmachine-program product include, but are not limited to, magnetic mediasuch as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape; optical media suchas CD-ROM disks; magneto-optical media; and hardware devices that arespecially configured to store and perform program instructions, such asread-only memory devices (“ROM”) and random access memory (“RAM”).

While one or more implementations and techniques are described withreference to an implementation in which a service cloud console isimplemented in a system having an application server providing a frontend for an on-demand database service capable of supporting multipletenants, the one or more implementations and techniques are not limitedto multi-tenant databases nor deployment on application servers.Implementations may be practiced using other database architectures,i.e., ORACLE®, DB2® by IBM and the like without departing from the scopeof the implementations claimed.

Any of the above implementations may be used alone or together with oneanother in any combination. Although various implementations may havebeen motivated by various deficiencies with the prior art, which may bediscussed or alluded to in one or more places in the specification, theimplementations do not necessarily address any of these deficiencies. Inother words, different implementations may address differentdeficiencies that may be discussed in the specification. Someimplementations may only partially address some deficiencies or just onedeficiency that may be discussed in the specification, and someimplementations may not address any of these deficiencies.

While various implementations have been described herein, it should beunderstood that they have been presented by way of example only, and notlimitation. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present applicationshould not be limited by any of the implementations described herein butshould be defined only in accordance with the following andlater-submitted claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method comprising:providing a user interface to enable selecting one or more declarativesto generate a mobile application, the one or more declaratives providingone or more options to visually configure characteristics of the mobileapplication; receiving data corresponding to selection of the one ormore declaratives, the one or more selected declaratives comprising aselected declarative for a category and a selected declarative for aproduct or a service in the category; receiving data corresponding toselection of a layout to associate the one or more selected declarativeswith the mobile application, the selected layout comprising: a selectedone of a horizontal layout or a vertical layout for the category, and aselected one of a compact layout or a detailed layout for the product orthe service in the category; determining metadata associated with theone or more selected declaratives and metadata associated with theselected layout; generating the mobile application using a combinationof a metadata engine with the metadata associated with the one or moreselected declaratives and the metadata associated with the selectedlayout, where the mobile application is generated with a uniqueidentifier to differentiate in an application store from otherapplications based on the metadata engine; receiving data correspondingto selection of a data import option; importing product data or servicedata stored in a remote server environment into the mobile applicationresponsive to receiving the data corresponding to the selection of thedata import option; and providing a preview of the mobile application,wherein the preview displays the imported product data or the importedservice data using the compact layout or the detailed layout.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein said user interface is provided by a mobilecomputing system.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or moreselected declaratives further comprises a declarative for a color schemefor the mobile application.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one ormore selected declaratives further comprises a declarative forcompleting a transaction for the product or the service in the category.5. The method of claim 1, wherein the selection of the layout specifiesa card user interface and configuration for the card user interface,where the card user interface can be swiped vertically or horizontally.6. The method of claim 1, wherein the selection of the layout specifiesa container data structure from a plurality of container data structuresthat each provides a hierarchy of object types specific to a type ofstore.
 7. A system for generating a mobile application comprising: oneor more processors; and a non-transitory computer readable mediumstoring a plurality of instructions, which when executed, cause the oneor more processors to: provide a user interface to enable selecting oneor more declaratives to generate a mobile application, the one or moredeclaratives providing one or more options to visually configurecharacteristics of the mobile application; receive data corresponding toselection of the one or more declaratives, the one or more selecteddeclaratives comprising a selected declarative for a category and aselected declarative for a product or a service in the category; receivedata corresponding to selection of a layout to associate the one or moreselected declaratives with the mobile application, the selected layoutcomprising: a selected one of a horizontal layout or a vertical layoutfor the category, and a selected one of a compact layout or a detailedlayout for the product or the service in the category; determinemetadata associated with the one or more selected declaratives andmetadata associated with the selected layout; generate the mobileapplication using a combination of a metadata engine with the metadataassociated with the one or more selected declaratives and the metadataassociated with the selected layout, where the mobile application isgenerated with a unique identifier to differentiate in an applicationstore from other applications based on the metadata engine; receive datacorresponding to selection of a data import option; import product dataor service data stored in a remote server environment into the mobileapplication responsive to receiving the data corresponding to theselection of the data import option; and provide a preview of the mobileapplication, wherein the preview displays the imported product data orthe imported service data using the compact layout or the detailedlayout.
 8. The system of claim 7, wherein said user interface isprovided by a mobile computing system.
 9. The system of claim 7, whereinthe one or more selected declaratives further comprises a declarativefor a color scheme for the mobile application.
 10. The system of claim7, wherein the one or more selected declaratives further comprises adeclarative for completing a transaction for a the product or theservice in the category.
 11. A computer program product for generating amobile application comprising computer-readable program code to beexecuted by one or more processors when retrieved from a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium, the program code including instructions to:provide a user interface to enable selecting one or more declaratives togenerate a mobile application, the one or more declaratives providingone or more options to visually configure characteristics of the mobileapplication; receive data corresponding to selection of the one or moredeclaratives, the one or more selected declaratives comprising aselected declarative for a category and a selected declarative for aproduct or a service in the category: receive data corresponding toselection of a layout to associate the one or more selected declarativeswith the mobile application, the selected layout comprising: a selectedone of a horizontal layout or a vertical layout for the category, and aselected one of a compact layout or a detailed layout for the product orthe service in the category; determine metadata associated with the oneor more selected declaratives and metadata associated with the selectedlayout; generate the mobile application using a combination of ametadata engine with the metadata associated with the one or moreselected declaratives and the metadata associated with the selectedlayout, where the mobile application is generated with a uniqueidentifier to differentiate in an application store from otherapplications based on the metadata engine; receiving data correspondingto selection of a data import option; importing product data or servicedata stored in a remote server environment into the mobile applicationresponsive to receiving the data corresponding to the selection of thedata import option; and providing a preview of the mobile application,wherein the preview displays the imported product data or the importedservice data using the compact layout or the detailed layout.
 12. Thecomputer program product of claim 11, wherein said user interface isprovided by a mobile computing system.
 13. The computer program productof claim 11, wherein the one or more selected declaratives furthercomprises a declarative for a color scheme for the mobile application.14. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the one or moreselected declaratives further comprises a declarative for completing atransaction for the product or the service in the category.